Dubai: Al Habtoor and Al Theyaba became the final sides to enter the quarter-finals of the futsal competition on the last night of the preliminary round matches at the Fourth Nad Al Sheba (NAS) Ramadan Sports Tournament on Thursday.
With futsal taking a one-day break until Saturday’s quarter-finals, Al Habtoor joined leaders Fohood Jumeirah from Group B, while Al Theyaba became the eighth and final team into the quarter-finals after they advanced along with former two-time champions Fohood Zabeel from Group A.
In Thursday’s matches, Al Habtoor were aided by a hat-trick from Spaniard Dovenir Domingues De Paiva and a brace from his Brazilian teammate Jean Pierre Guisel to help the side register their second win, taking their tally to six points.
Earlier, Fohood Jumeirah had blown off Tornado-4 6-2 in a match that later proved to be inconsequential as Al Habtoor had a better head-to-head after earlier defeating Tornado-4. The highlight of the Fohood Jumeirah win was a brace apiece from Jefferson Luis Correa and Abdullah Saeed Al Muhairi, while Leonardo Santana Da Silva and Franklin Douglas Cavalcante got one each. Diogo Henrique and Ebrahim Khalid scored for the losing side.
“It is very important that we now rest enough and stay concentrated for our next match on Saturday,” Fohood Jumeirah’s Brazilian professional Da Silva told Gulf News.
“We have had three tough matches and things won’t be getting any easier as we enter the knockout stages. We just need to get our basics right and take it one match at a time,” he cautioned.
Later in the night, Al Theyaba made light work of Desert 7-1, with Douglas Junior Da Silva and Everton Ribeiro scoring a brace apiece. “This tournament has been a wonderful experience for a young team like ours,” Ribeiro said.
“This was a crunch match for both teams and I am glad with the way our younger players responded. The crucial thing now is to raise our level and get prepared to play even tougher teams in the knockouts,” he added.
In the last match of the night, Fohood Zabeel asserted their supremacy at the top of Group A with a 13-1 thrashing of Studio Zabeel. The former two-time winners and last year’s runners-up led 8-0 at half-time with Spanish striker Alejandro Yepes Balsalobre alone finding the net four times. They slackened their pace a bit in the second half, but still managed to add another five goals to complete a thorough mauling of their opponents, scoring a total of 24 goals in just three matches.
RESULTS
(Futsal)
Fohood Jumeirah x Tornado-4 6-2
Al Habtoor x Al Ain Youth 9-0
Al Theyaba x Desert 7-1
Fohood Zabeel x Studio Zabeel 13-1
Quarter-finals on Sunday
(10pm) RBH x YLS-1
(11.15pm) Al Habtoor x Fohood Zabeel
(12.30am) Al Theyaba x Fohood Jumeirah
(1.45am) Al Wasl x Al Joker
